Page 98 of Holy Sinner

“Oh, I forgot you had that Dark Avenger shit going on. Got a code to live by, right?”

“It’s not a code. I have a type.”

“Well, I don’t know if we’re going to find any pimps out here for you to cut to pieces but I’ll do my best,” I snap.

“Fuck off,” Rafe mutters. He shifts in his seat and looks outside. He’s thinking about Kit. I know he is.

“We’re only twenty out. We’re almost to her.”

“I hate being away from her.”

I know what he means. It feels like there’s a beehive under my skin, like everything is too sharp and loud. My thoughts are mine but they don’t feel like they are either. They’re darker, walking that fine line I do when I have someone’s life in my hands. My thoughts slip past me like dark fish beneath black water, just out of reach and sight but causing ripples in the water with every swish of their tails. Every minute without Kit the dial on the world gets louder and louder until I can’t hear myself think. It's difficult to know where I start and where the world does.

I fucking hate the world.

Anger chokes me so thoroughly I have to cough to clear my throat. “It’ll be better. We can spend the night with her and take her with us to film. There’s only two months left.”

“You really think there’s only two months left?”

I glance over at Rafe. The moonlight and the glow of the dash lets me see him but just barely, he’s more of an outline than anything else.

“Probably not but I’m trying to be the positive one right now because Kit’s not here.”

The curve of his cheek rises. “Yeah, you’re doing a shit job.”

“I’ve failed at worse.”

We’re silent and I speed up a little. Mile by mile the truck eats up the distance and the time separating us from the woman we love. It was stupid to leave her alone with Alana. It seemed to make the most sense with Jax and Scott but we should have stayed together. There’s a squeeze in my chest and I rub at it absentmindedly. I really am a lovesick fuck, feeling it physically when we’re away from her. That has to be why I feel like I need to be with her or I’ll die. Rafe shifts in his seat beside me and I know he’s feeling what I am. Good. If I’m miserable, he better be too.

When we pull up to the house I know something isn’t right. The gate is closed but the car parked on the shoulder of the drive leading to it is empty.

“Where the fuck is Tweedledee and Tweedledum?” I snap my fingers at the empty car.

Rafe leans close to scan the area. There’s a light pole beside the gate and it casts enough light for us to see that we’re alone. There’s nowhere for the bodyguards to hide, not even to take a leak.

“Maybe they’re on the other side,” Rafe says, gesturing to the gate. He pulls out his phone and starts texting Kit. “Going to check if they’re up at the house.”

I punch in the code but instead of the keypad flashing green and the gate lifting. it blinks red with Invalid Code flashing on the screen.

“What the fuck is the code?”

Rafe stops looking around and zeroes in on the keypad and me. “286755.”

“That’s what I put in,” I say but I try the code again. Again it flashes Invalid Code. “Did Kit answer?” I ask while a feeling I’m not familiar with starts to pool in my veins. Fear. It’s fear. I don’t feel fear, not of anything and not of anyone but Kit…something is wrong.

“No, she fucking didn’t.” Rafe unbuckles his seat and shoves open his door. “Let’s fucking move. This isn’t right.”

I cut the truck engine and follow him without a word. He’s right. Something isn’t right. We walk around the gate in silence and climb the fence we find there. It’s ten feet high and a bitch to climb in the rain but we manage it in a few minutes. When I drop down beside Rafe on the other side we can see the house. It’s all lit up and it reminds me of the lodge.

Every single window in the house is shining with light. Without a word, Rafe and I start off at a run up the drive towards the house.

Chapter Forty-Four

KIT

“Jax?” I peer into the dark and another flash of lightning behind the man tells me I’m right. It’s him. I can see his dark hair and the familiar set of his shoulders. I nudge Alana so she can look and she nods.

“Yeah, it’s him.”

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